


All I Want

by loonitoon



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood and Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fear of losing, Inhibitions, Love at its worst, M/M, Minor Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rebel!Sasuke, Usurper!Danzo, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-23 11:34:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11988975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loonitoon/pseuds/loonitoon
Summary: Naruto finds the love of his life right after losing everything in the middle of a war, which teaches him to lose, to fight and to hold on. With no choice left, he joins the rebellion and has to make sacrifices for what he wants. Now he is fighting tooth and nail to cross Danzo's plans, while simultaneously trying to hold on to Sasuke in all of this.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks!  
> Sorry for maybe confusing some people. This story was originally named 'Growing Strong' and it was pretty close to the finish line, but while I tried to get into it again I noticed how horrible it was.  
> My writing changed over time and I thought the old version was childish and boring.
> 
> So I am revisiting it completely and posting it new. I've already made some major changes and it's easier this way. The first chapter isn't fundamentally different.
> 
> Hope you like it! I do like it better this way.

Naruto was running.

 _Not fast enough._ He pushed his legs even further even though they already cramped. Pain raced up his sides and begged his body to stop moving. His lungs felt like they were going to quit the next second. His breaths were raspy and forced, each working its gruesome way through his dry trachea. _Faster, faster, faster, faster..._

The town behind him was in flames. Military had marched in this morning and hadn't wasted a second before turning everything upside down.

They started with capturing the major and officially executing him in the middle of the market place, just after they had crowded enough of an audience in the limited space.  
Next were the kids. Soldiers locked the boys into their trucks to take them away. Rumors had it that they were bringing them to special training camps where they made loyal soldiers, weapons, out of them. Nobody wanted to think about the methods they used. Or how many came out alive at the end.

People of every age were dragged out of their homes and killed on the street if they resisted or, also, not resisting. The soldiers didn’t spare a second glance on elderly people. But they watched the girls, the young women. In some streets there were soldiers doing more than watching, ignoring the screams they evoked.

Everything valuable was confiscated; the citizens were stripped of money, jewels, artifacts, their houses, their family, their kids and their lives.

Naruto had seen it while hiding between the tall oak trees of the surrounding forest. He had always thought it to be an impeccable observation spot.  
Today, he wished the sight wasn’t this good. 

Had Naruto been at home he would now be sitting between shivering, scared men his age, some of them his friends, waiting to be shipped off. He had grown up with these people and a few minutes ago he had been watching while the soldiers hurt, raped and killed them. 

He nearly fell when his foot got caught in a root. His stomach felt sick and he felt vomit crawling up his esophagus but swallowed it forcefully back down because he didn’t have the time to stop. Maybe someone was following him, maybe not, it didn’t matter. 

His breath was short and fast and not nearly brought in enough oxygen. His lungs were blazing, he couldn’t feel his legs anymore. The adrenaline that was cursing through his blood was the only thing holding him upright at this point. Had he been running for an hour or two or five?

He had never been this far away from his hometown. He had planned to travel when he turned 20 in a few months, maybe move to another town and find a job. His graduation from community college wasn’t far away. Maybe find someone to settle down with, have the 2.5 kids and maybe a dog and a cat. 

It was difficult to grasp how everything has gone down the drain this spectacularly in a few minutes. The war they had described on Tv had been so far away, they hadn’t been expecting to find it on their doorstep the next day.

The nation had been peaceful for more than a hundred years, since the third Great War. The opposing sides had signed a treaty, obligating them to hold the peace and withhold from any bellicose act. The strongest and most reliable soldier, who had played an important role in the negotiations, had been chosen to stand at the top of their new government. He was to rule just and fair over the citizens of their country. He and his family resided in Iron Castle in the capital and his legacy was held upright till this day. Until a few years ago, his grandson had reigned over the land.

The peace had been disrupted when a former military general and councilman named Danzo had overthrown the monarch and killed him along with his wife and their children. With the help of an army that he had stomped out of nowhere behind everyone's back, he had brought the rest of the council and the capital under his control. Rebelling citizens were either imprisoned or threatened.  
The new military regime was established.

Since then, soldiers invaded seemingly random towns. Everyday people had to fear for their lives and most went to sleep at night with a prayer on their lips.

Naruto hissed when a sharp rock graced his ankle. Tears tried to get into his vision, but he blinked them away. His godparents could be dead by now. He should have stayed, he should turn back.

He continued running.

The more he tried to stop thinking, the more desperate and jumbled his mind became. A coward, that’s what he was. And useless. Spineless. Homeless. And his people were dead.

He focused on his steps. Tried to listen for any noises around him, but his heavy breath and the cracking twigs beneath his feet were all the sounds that reached his ear.

When night came everything went pitch-black. Naruto stopped running for the first time in hours and decided to rest for a moment. It was a mistake because as soon as he stopped, his legs crumbled. He didn’t feel like he could get back up again. 

His breathing took a while to calm down. The feeling in his legs came back, but it was only pain and exhaustion. He was so _tired_.

He tried not to fall asleep, every time he closed his eyes images of soldiers and death flashed through his mind. Children crying, people screaming, flames, guns. He bent over and threw up.

A lump begun building in his throat.  
It wasn't fair. People said everything was fair in war and love, but it didn’t console him. His town, his people, they were innocent. _He_ was innocent.

Fundamentally exhausted, he crawled away from the mess he made on the ground. A few inches, then he leaned against a tree and stared into the canopy of leaves above him. He didn’t know what to do now. He couldn’t turn back, it was too late. And he had no knowledge about cities in his vicinity. He didn’t even know where he was.

A humorless, desperate laugh escaped him. _What the fuck._  
He had never been one to believe in karma. But now, even he wondered which one of his misconducts of the past had been fucked up enough to result in something like this.

His town had been proud to be completely independent of the greater cities of their country. They had grown their own crops, made their own tools, lived their normal lives. Some people traveled, some moved to other towns. In the end, Naruto thought, their stupid wish of autonomy had brought their miserable downfall. Had they paid a little more attention to what was going on in the country, they could’ve prepared for something like this.

His eyes closed. Sleep had never been more alluring than when one wanted to flee reality, but he willed himself to stay awake. After what felt like hours, his body and his thoughts seemed to calm down in their exhaustion.

Then he stood so fast his muscles cramped again. He could hear noises somewhere to his right. Twigs cracking, boots stomping quietly, maybe a voice. 

Naruto tried to understand what they were saying. The voice grew louder and the blond felt his heart sink when he realized they were nearing his position. 

“-was pissed as hell, he didn't even thank me for the weapons I managed to steal!”

“Did you expect him to, after ignoring his instructions?”

Naruto decided to run. Someone who spoke about weapons and following orders were most likely soldiers. He took a step back and promptly fell over a root, his legs feeling too much like mush to hold him upright. His body slammed to the ground and a loud grunt left his mouth. The voices fell silent. Naruto hold his breath.

“Did you hear that?”

He heard quick footsteps coming in his direction and leaped to his feet with a voiceless curse. 

The soldiers spoke a few more quiet words, but Naruto couldn't understand what they were saying. Twigs and leaves broke under his feet when he began to run. Behind him, similar noises were growing louder and he realized the soldiers had also started to run.  
They were closing in on him even though they seemed to carry heavy gear, he could hear the _clack clack_ of rifles to the rhythm of their steps. 

A hurried glance backwards didn’t show him their figures yet, but he knew they weren’t far. They were following his noises. Before he made a decision to stop and hide, his head turned forward again and he found the thick trees right and left slowly getting thinner, smaller and fewer. 

Then he stood before a ruin of utmost size. It must have been a huge town once, not long ago. Naruto noticed that there were few signs of decaying and flora trying to claim the place.  
It looked as if a fire had used the town as playground. Everything was charred and burnt black. The buildings that weren't burnt down were damaged and deteriorated. 

Naruto realized his mistake of standing still and staring the same second strong fingers enclosed his arm. Instantly, he trashed and tried to get away.  
He barely felt the pain explode at the back of his head and his body fall before he was unconscious.

-

The first thing he noticed was the lack of noise. Then the slightly stiff but soft bedding beneath him. Trying to show no signs that he was awake, he concentrated on his surroundings. It was bright behind his eyelids. He couldn’t hear rustling clothes or breathing or voices so he presumed he was alone. But without opening his eyes, he couldn’t be sure of anything.

His eyes opened. He sat up slowly, carefully. He winced at the nauseous feeling and the painful throbbing at the back of his head. The room was bright, sunlight came in from the windows on his right.  
The bed he lay on belonged to a room that reminded him of a hospital. The walls were white and the sparse furnishing looked sterile and old.

“Look at that, Shikamaru. Sleeping Beauty has finally awoken.”

Naruto's head snapped around. A man with brown hair and black clothes leaned against the doorframe, showing a lazy grin. Naruto’s eyes shot to the automatic rifle leaning on the man’s right hip.

“Who are you?”, he asked while slowly setting his feet on the ground, trying to not look provocative. He held every muscle tense in preparation anyway. The more pushing question _Why am I not dead yet_ was swallowed.

“The better question is, who are _you_?”, the brunet asked, raising an aggravating eyebrow.

“Where am I?”, the blond tried again, not willing to give them his name or anything just yet. He tried not to think about the fact that it was slightly insane to act brash in this situation. “A hospital?” He looked around again, cautious to have the man in his sight. A look through the window showed destroyed buildings, broken and burnt out cars and disturbingly nice weather. It didn’t suit the situation at all.

The brunet’s eyes narrowed. Before he could say anything though, a second man with a ponytail appeared beside him and looked into the room at their captive. “You know”, the man, presumably Shikamaru, began while Naruto began inconspicuously searching the room for something he could use as a weapon. “This can go down easy, or not. Answer our questions and we will see what to do with you.”

Naruto raised his eyebrows in light surprise at his blunt words and forgot his search for a weapon for a second. “You mean if you kill me or not?” He knew his words sounded braver than he felt. His body felt like it was trembling from pure tension. And maybe something else.  
The men didn’t answer but their looks said it all.

His brain was running at full speed. These guys didn't seem like the soldiers who attacked his town. They even wore different uniforms. 

Glancing another time at their guns, he decided to compromise a little and see where it took him. “My name is Naruto Uzumaki.”, he told them.

A second ticked by while they stared at each other, then: “Kiba Inuzuka”, said the brunet still leaning against the doorframe. He indicated to the other man beside him. “Shikamaru Nara. Why were you in the forest?”

Naruto pressed his lips into a thin line, but he knew they weren’t getting anywhere if he stayed silent. “I.. was on the run.”, he said after quickly calculating what information was safe to say for the moment. “..and what were soldiers like you doing there?”, he asked tentatively, head held high to cover his fear. “You _are_ soldiers, aren’t you?”

They exchanged a quick glance and Naruto used the short instance they weren’t looking to swallow, the only sign he was deadly nervous.  
To his anger, they didn’t answer his question. “What was it you were running from?”, Kiba asked, and if it wasn’t for the hand casually lying on his rifle, it could have sounded purely curious. 

Naruto hated being in the lesser position and gritted his teeth to stop his temper from coming through. He gave it a chance to ask another question of his own. “Are you working for Danzo?” He knew it was a little too straight-forward, but he had never been one for dancing around the topic. He didn’t have the subtleness it afforded. 

He tensely watched the way both of them seemed to straighten up. 

“No. Rather the opposite, actually.”, Shikamaru answered seemingly truthfully. Some of Naruto’s tension faded away, but it would have been stupid to let his guard down. He wondered if they were this confident to tell him because he was unarmed and looked worse for wear.

Taking his chances, he decided to believe them. For now. “My town was attacked by soldiers yesterday. I um- I ran and..” he stopped, ashamed and miserable because he had cowardly run while he could have fought for his people. 

He raised his head again when he heard Shikamaru sigh and Kiba cursing slightly under his breath. “Did anyone else get away?”, the brunet asked and Naruto noticed he looked angry. He shrugged in answer, then slowly shook his head because that was what he thought. Even though it hurt.

There was a short silence. 

“Sorry for chasing you through the woods. We thought you were a spy.”, Kiba eventually said slightly grinning. “And, well, sorry for hitting you.”, he added, not sounding sorry.

Naruto looked at them, still wary. “You said you were working against Danzo?” He could vaguely remember having heard about a rebellion growing against the usurper. He wondered if it was really this much of a coincidence to run into them only hours after military visited his town. “How many of you are there?”

Shikamaru shrugged non-commital. “A few.” He seemed to lose interest in this situation really fast. “We can’t just let you go, Naruto.” His name sounded weird coming from this stranger, but Naruto pulled a slight grimace because of his words. Of course not. 

-

On the way out of the hospital, one man on each side of him, Naruto learned that Kiba and Shikamaru had been on patrol when they had heard him rustling through the forest. They wouldn’t tell him where they were going and Naruto stopped asking after the fourth time.

They guided him through a barely accessible street and had to avoid rubble and debris lying in their way. From up close, the state of the town seemed even more pitiful. “What happened here?”, he voiced his thoughts. 

“It was attacked two years ago, shortly after Danzo rose up.”, Shikamaru answered and his mouth twitched in a strange way. He looked around the ruins of high buildings. “First, they used aircraft bombs.”, he said and had a faraway look on his face. Naruto knew this expression. He was completely certain, that Shikamaru had been present when this town had been attacked. “When most of Konoha had been destroyed, the foot soldiers came. To tidy up.”

The blonde swallowed. A town this size must have had.. millions of citizens. 

The rest of the way was spent in silence, broken every now and then by the sound of debris kicked away by their feet.  
The blond wondered if he was going to see their headquarters or get thrown into some kind of prison cell. He wouldn’t be surprised either way. Hopefully, they weren’t going to walk a long distance. Naruto could feel every part of his body throbbing and screaming for rest. The back of his head hurt like hell and his stomach was empty.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long until they motioned him to enter a mostly-intact building on his left. Naruto got a short view of it before entering. It looked pretty inconspicuous. Inside, there was an enormous hall with a large ceiling. The whole room was stuffed with high shelves, filled with millions of books. A lot of their former content though lay scattered around the floor, as if pushed out of their shelves while an earthquake.

 _Or explosions_ , Naruto thought.

They went for the eastern part of the hall and Naruto curiously eyed the large brown curtain hanging on one part of the wall. The blond wrinkled his nose at the stench it radiated when they got closer. He had supposed there to be a window behind it, but when Kiba pulled it aside, he was surprised to see a small, nondescript door.

Without being asked, Shikamaru explained that in the old times, the towns' major had built some sort of catacombs below Konoha to shelter the citizens. Naruto knew that a lot of the larger towns had those from times of the last Great War thanks to his history teacher. But he had never seen one, nor been in one.

The brunet leading them raised his hand and only then did Naruto notice the dark keypad beside the door. It was small and had seen better days. It showed the numbers from 0 to 9. He couldn’t see what number Kiba punched in because the man stepped right in front of the pad. After a second, a _clack_ was heard.

“Apparently, the major thought a building full of boring books would be most unlikely to be searched.” Kiba said with a light smirk and opened the door. Naruto followed, Shikamaru behind him. The door behind them closed with another audible _clack_.  
For a moment, it was completely dark inside. Then, suddenly there were lights everywhere and he had to blink a few times to get used to it. There were.. a lot of stairs before him. Naruto felt surreal, like he was playing one of his old videogames. 

It was a giant spiral stone-staircase weaving itself down into the earth. Naruto couldn’t quite see the end of it. He wondered how long it had taken to dig a hole this deep and wide. 

It felt like they needed an hour to walk down the staircase and his ankle, where a stone had sliced it, protested with every step. Naruto dreaded walking all these steps up again whenever he would leave again. _If_ he would leave again.

At the end of the stairs was another door. Shikamaru opened it and Naruto saw a gigantic hall flooded with light. After a moment, he realized it came from thousands of lights embedded into the walls and the ceiling. At least they had modernized this little dungeon. He wouldn’t have been surprised to see torches illuminating the walls.

There were corridors branching off right and left, making it seem like a giant labyrinth underground. Naruto knew he would be instantly lost if left alone.

There were a few people running around, but they didn't seem to take notice of them. Naruto wondered how many people lived here. They were crossing the hall and vanishing again into different corridors, looking busy.

“Sight-seeing starts later, come on.”, Kiba said and went ahead. They entered the second corridor on the left. It was a long brightly-lit hallway. Naruto tried to memorize the way but after they the first two left-turns, three right-turns and another left one, he had lost track. 

A few people passing by shot them curious looks and Naruto knew it was because Shikamaru and Kiba were still walking on each side of him, like he was a prisoner. He knew they were ready to move the second he did something unwanted. Their path seemed endless to him when they finally stopped in front of a door.

Kiba opened the door and pulled the blond in with him. The room was middle-sized and very sparsely furnished. Only a desk stood at the far wall. On top of it lay a lot of documents and a lamp stood at the side. On the edge of it leaned some tall guy with a strange eye patch over his left eye. Strangely, a black mask hid most of his face. He looked up from the book he was reading when they entered.

“Kakashi. We picked up this guy in the woods eastward of Konoha. His name is Naruto Uzumaki. Apparently, his town was attacked yesterday. Seems legit.”

The guy nodded, though he raised an eyebrow. Naruto thought he was suspicious and wondered who would trust someone with a mask on his face.  
Kiba let go of his arm and stepped beside the door without another word. Naruto threw the closed door a look and noted Shikamaru standing on the other side of the door, standing guard. He turned back to face the other occupant of the room.

“So.. Danzo flattened another part of the landscape.”, he mumbled, though mostly to himself it seemed. He contemplated Naruto without hurry, his book still in hand. “What was your name again?”

“Naruto Uzumaki.” The blond wondered if this guy was their leader or something like that. Though he didn’t have an authoritarian feel to him. The scrutiny he had to endure was unnerving him.

“So you’re the head of this.. group?”, he gritted out, annoyed.

Kakashi – at least that’s what Kiba had called him – watched him with his one visible eye with something akin to amusment. “Mmh, I think I’m more like a secretary.” Naruto had the feeling he was being made fun of, but swallowed an angry retort.

“So, what’s happening now?”, he asked, but didn’t get an answer. Behind him, the door opened again. Everyone, including himself, turned their heads to the person entering.

Naruto startled when he saw the dark-haired man. The first thing he noticed was how unreasonable pretty he was. The second thing was the highly irritated look sent his way. It instantly set him on edge.

“Who is this?”, the man asked, his irritation also seeping into his voice. He had this.. distanced, stand-offish air about him. Short of the light creases on his forehead, his pale skin was untouched of any blemish. His form was tall and muscled, though quite lanky. But the part that put Naruto off the most were his nearly black eyes. In stark contrast to everything else about him, they were incredibly expressive.

“Kiba and Shikamaru picked up this stray in the forest. His town was destroyed.”, the gray-haired guy answered, glancing at Naruto, who couldn’t tear his gaze away from the newcomer.

The black-haired guy shot Naruto another wary glance before walking past him to sit behind the lone desk in the room. Kakashi’s visible eye glinted amused, but he said nothing else. While Naruto was watching, the two men at the desk exchanged some quiet words, pointing at the papers on the desk once or twice. 

He glanced at the door, still being guarded by Kiba and Shikamaru. Kiba shot him a little grin, though it did nothing to ease Naruto’s discomfort. 

“I’ll inform him.”, Kakashi said in a normal volume at the desk and the blond looked up to see him crossing the room. Before he left it, he winked at Naruto and looked at the one left at the desk while saying “Have fun.” 

Naruto turned his focus back on the desk and its occupant. They looked at each other. The piercing gaze unnerved him. 

“What's your name?” Naruto noticed him watching is reaction very closely and knew every word and movement was analyzed. 

“Naruto Uzumaki.”, he said, slightly proud his voice didn’t waver. He didn’t get a name in return. His mouth turned downwards in annoyance for a second, but he didn’t ask. 

“My town’s at the other end of the forest. I had been hiding in it when they came. I.. watched and then I fled.”

A raised eyebrow was his answer. “Why were you hiding there?”

Naruto realized that it had sounded a little off- like he had been waiting there for the soldiers to come, in safe distance. He swallowed his rage at the indirect accusation, though answered through gritted teeth. “Had a fight with my godfather.” His hands turned into fists at that, trying to stay focused on this conversation – which could easily be the crucial factor to decide about what they would do with him – and _not_ think about the probably last words he had said – yelled - to his godfather.

His interrogator didn’t look fully convinced, but he let the question be. “Did someone else get away?” Naruto didn’t shrug this time, he shook his head after a short hesitation. He didn’t know if his mumbled “I don’t think so.” was heard and he didn’t care.

There was a slight lapse in their ‘conversation’ while the dark-haired man just sat there, looking at him, seemingly thinking about what to do with him.  
Naruto was tired of being the end of this scrutinizing gaze and deciding to test the waters. The had left him alive till now.  
If these people were fighting against Danzo, a man that Naruto had learned to hate real fast in these past hours, they were standing on the same side.

And Naruto didn’t have many options left.

“So what is this place, this.. organization? A rebellion against Danzo’s regime?” He heard Kiba snort behind him and wondered if he had been too brash. “Who’re you?”, he added because attack had always been his best form of defense. “Their leader?”

For a second Naruto thought he saw a muscle in the others jaw twitch, but it was gone in a blink so he might have imagined it. But he didn't miss the frown forming on his face. “No.”

Naruto heard Kiba sigh in his back and mumble a quiet “Aw, c’mon boss.”, but the raven quieted him with a glance and said “Don’t call me that.”  
The blond raised an eyebrow, wondering if this was just false modesty or if this guy was in denial. If there was one thing Naruto was good at, then it was observing people, reading their body language.  
The way Shikamaru, Kiba looked at him, guarded this door, and even Kakashi’s slight caution while talking to him. They followed him, trusted him. Naruto knew that the two guarding the door would jump in between if someone shot at this supposed ‘not-leader’.

The dark-haired ignored the look Naruto was sending him and finally answered some of his question, though unwillingly it seemed. “You could call it a rebellion. For now, it’s mostly hiding and gathering information, but someday..” his eyes showed a defiance and an absolute _distaste_ that Naruto’s own eyes widened. “We’ll bring him down.” Naruto didn’t need to ask who ‘him’ was. 

He wondered what had been taken away from this guy, for him to form such pure and cold hatred against Danzo.  
But he could relate, really.

“I have nowhere to go.”, Naruto finally confessed after seconds of silence. “And I don’t think you will let me leave. At least not alive and kicking.”  
The moment Kiba and Shikamaru had brought him here, it had been dead or prisoner. They would never chance the risk that he could tell someone about this underground hiding place.

But it had to mean something, that they even took him here, hadn’t it? They could’ve killed him in the hospital room. So, at least these two seemed to believe him. It would seem now, that Naruto’s fate was bound to how much this person trusted Kiba and Shikamaru, believed in their judgement. 

There was a tenseness in the air of this room that hadn’t been there a few minutes ago. “So, I’ll stay. If what you do is fighting against that asshole.” There was a confidence in his voice that he didn’t feel, but his resolve was made. He could leave this place as a corpse- or be alive and get revenge for his family, his friends, his town. The decision was easy, really. 

He'd always had a problem with authority. Bending to the will of another wasn't something Naruto Uzumaki did voluntarily. But at the moment, he didn't have a choice. He was betting on the fact that a minority like this would need every man they could get. So, he waited for an answer.

“You can stay, for now.”, the dark-haired told him, his eyes calculating and still holding traces of anger. “Better behave. We’ll decide if you’re trustworthy.” Naruto snorted at that, but didn’t say what he thought. ‘We’ meant ‘I’, he supposed. 

The dark eyes turned to the two guards again and he nodded, dismissing the three of them with a gesture that made Naruto grit his teeth.

“Bastard.”, he said in a low voice when the two men guided him through the door. Before it fell shut, he thought he heard a quiet snort. But he could have imagined it.

-

“Great”, Kiba had grinned as soon as the door hat closed behind them. Naruto had thrown him a confused glance, but he had been too tired to ask what that was about. Kiba had gone on anyway.  
“I kinda expected it, but it’s good Sasuke lets you stay. Healthy men are what we need.”

After most of his nervousness had calmed down when his body had got the message that he wouldn’t be killed on the spot, he felt bone-deep tired. His head ached, his stomach growled and the little nicks and scratches he had gotten himself while running through the woods were burning uncomfortably. It had taken his brain a while to register and understand Kiba’s words. 

Now, laying on a small bed pushed to the wall of a tiny room and staring at the ceiling, he realized Kiba had said ‘it’s good Sasuke lets you stay’. _Sasuke_. That must be the name of the bastard-y guy inside that office. He hummed under his breath, thinking _Strange_ , while closing his dry eyes to the nearly dark room. It was his room now, he had been told. It was just big enough so he could walk five normal steps in length and four in width. The only furniture were the bed, a small table lamp and a very small closet in the corner. There were, obviously, no windows.

The brunet had told him about the rough outline of the base - very rough, though Naruto supposed he wasn’t ‘trustworthy’ yet - while they had been walking through the corridors and Naruto had realized after a while that they were going back to the central hall he had seen earlier. There had been more people running around. He had counted them but stopped at 178, because his tired brain had stumbled over the numbers.

They had taken another hallway, on the left side. Naruto had noticed the doors looking all the same, the rooms behind seemingly all the same size. It had been like walking through a university dorm, only darker, simpler. After a while Kiba had stopped in front of a door. Only then had Naruto noticed that Shikamaru hadn’t been with them anymore.

“It's small, I know. But you get used to it. Stay here until someone comes to get you.”

 _What else would I do_ , he had thought sarcastically and had sat down on his bed, surveying ‘his’ room. Kiba had closed the door and left him alone. Though Naruto was pretty sure he was still standing outside, keeping guard. 

He thought about sleeping. It would keep him from thinking, at least. But even though he was exhausted and his eyes were closed, he couldn’t find sleep. His head felt like there was a stream running through it, random noise in his ears making him jumpy.

 _Alone_ , his brain finally spat out and reminded him of something he wanted to forget. _Everyone I knew is gone_. 

He turned onto his side, facing the wall, and cried. 

-

A loud sound startled him awake. Bewildered, he sat upright and tried to get a grip on the situation. His headache was worse than it had been before he went to sleep. He had to rub at his eyes because they felt crusty and swollen.  
After a few seconds, the sound appeared again and he realized it was someone banging against the door of his tiny room. “Naruto?”, he heard Kiba’s muted voice.  
The blond stood up, running his hands over his numb face to get the feeling back. “Yeah.”, he said, not caring if it was loud enough to be heard outside the door. He noticed that he had left the light on before falling asleep. He looked around and tried to organize his mind. There was no way to tell how long he had slept, but it barely improved the horrible feeling.

After a few minutes, he stood up and opened the door, not having anything to do to get ready. He had slept in his clothes and his shoes and there was no bathroom in his room.  
Kiba’s eyes met his, looking even more tired than he felt. He must have stood guard the whole time. Naruto wondered if the brunet had been a normal guy before all of this, before he had been forced to be a soldier. If he had family left or if he was all alone, too.  
Shikamaru was back again, standing beside his patrol partner and watching him indifferently.

“Got a good sleep?”, Kiba grinned tiredly and shrugged when Naruto didn’t answer. “We will guide you to the bathroom, I think you’re in dire need of a shower.” The blonde hated being treated like.. a stranger, a prisoner, but he couldn’t argue. So he followed them and stepped under a mostly cold spray of water six minutes later. No curtains, no warm water. It was a large room with numerous shower heads lining the walls. But at least they had running water down here.  
It washed over his body and washed away the dirt and blood and made his wounds burn. He noticed a stinging pain at the back of his head and was cautious for the rest of his shower to not hold his wound under the spray. They could’ve at least let him put some gauze over it before shoving him into his room.

He took longer than needed, but they thankfully left him alone. He left the shower only when his thoughts began wandering again, to his town, his family. With a headshake, a deep breath and a few tries to blink the moisture from his eyes, he forced himself to get a grip again.  
A set of basic clothes were waiting for him when he stepped into the changing room. Black pants and a white shirt. He glanced at the two men standing before the slightly a-jar door. Now that he thought about it, most people he had seen down here had worn uniforms, though some had worn simple clothes like this. Kakashi had worn the black uniform. Sasuke, too.

Dry and clothed, he stepped out of the shower rooms and they guided him through the corridors again. Shikamaru took over then, telling Kiba to go sleep already. The brunet grinned at both of them, waved and vanished down another corridor without another word. Naruto supposed he must have been really tired.  
Shikamaru told him he’d get him to the infirmary first, then they’d go eat something. The blond’s stomach grumbled loudly at that and he kinda wished they would be getting food first.

While the other guided him through the maze, Naruto tried to get some more information out of him. It wasn’t easy because Shikamaru was either really opposed to a conversation or didn’t think it safe to tell him too much. What he found out though was, that it was approximately evening.  
“Most don’t care about the time.”, the man told him. “Only a few are allowed to go to the surface and there are few clocks down here.”  
Like always, he tried to memorize the way they were going. This time, he may or may not have succeeded, because it wasn’t as complicated as the way to Sasuke’s office. They took the first corridor on the right, took two right-turns and stopped in front of the only door in this corridor. It even had a sign above the doorway.

Inside were two women, contemplating a chart one of them was holding. They looked up when the two men entered. One of them – _she had pink_ hair, what the fuck – raised an eyebrow and eyed him openly. The other one seemed to have less self-esteem, her gaze lay only a second on him before she looked elsewhere.  
“Who’s that?”, the pink-haired woman asked Shikamaru and Naruto was instantly reminded of Sasuke’s rude words this morning, – was it really just a few hours ago? It seemed so far away -  
what was it with these people not asking him directly? 

“Naruto Uzumaki, hello to you, too.”, he answered before Shikamaru had opened his mouth. He stepped forward and shook both women’s hand because he had manners. And they seemed nice. And pretty. 

They seemed surprised, but introduced themselves as Sakura Haruno – the pink one – and Hinata Hyuga. After Shikamaru told them about their newcomer, especially Sakura got excited and a lot friendlier. “We don’t see many new faces around here, you know.”, she smiled while inspecting the wound at the back of his head. “It gets boring.”

Naruto couldn’t help but like her – she made him laugh with her bluntness and he felt like they could be friends. 

“I’d hit Kiba next time you see him if I were you, he got you pretty bad. But I don’t think it needs stitches. Just be careful about showering and hitting your head again.”

“I’d probably get killed on sight if I suddenly punched Kiba.”, Naruto said and tried a humorless smile. Even though Sakura was pretty nice to him, he hadn’t forgotten that he was ‘on probation’. Sakura clicked her tongue, but left it at that. She put a light layer of gauze around his ankle and said it wouldn’t take long to heal.

Sakura accompanied them to get some food while Hinata stayed at the infirmary, having already eaten. The way wasn’t complicated either – central hall, second door on the left and they were standing in a large, stuffed room. It smelled like food and Naruto’s stomach growled again to get attention.  
The blond couldn’t say that it was a culinary masterpiece, but his potatoes and eggs were alright and he assumed the point was to get him saturated. From what Sakura told him he gathered, that it wasn’t like they were short on food for an organization this large, but it was bound with taking risks. Their crops and animals like chickens and pigs were kept on fields on the surface, a noticeable distance from Konoha. Every day, people were putting themselves in danger by running around above. Naruto asked how many people were down here, because Shikamaru’s answer yesterday had been useless. The girl had to contemplate his question and vaguely calculated that it had to be about two thousand men, women and kids.  
Naruto was quite impressed.

When everyone was fed, Sakura excused herself to go back to the infirmary. They had been in the middle of stock-taking and she didn’t want to skip out while Hinata had to do everything by herself. She and Shikamaru exchanged a short glance, apparently meaningless, but Naruto noticed either way.  
While putting his tray into the foreseen cart, he noticed a black-haired guy staring at him from the other end of the hall. He was sitting alone on a table and had apparently not once touched the food in front of him. Naruto found it strange, but turned away and let himself be guided out of the food hall by Shikamaru. 

“Where are we going now?”, he asked, slightly curious. 

Shikamaru glanced at him, seemingly thinking about something, then: “Back to your room. I have to run an errand and can’t take you with me.” Naruto shot an incredulous look at him, feeling even more like a prisoner – which he apparently was. An annoyed “What the fuck” escaped him, but he swallowed the rest.  
A few seconds after the door to his room closed behind him, he heard a quiet _click_ and knew Shikamaru had just locked the door. 

“Fuck.”, he mumbled, angry about this situation. “You’re an asshole, Shikamaru!”, he yelled at the door and kicked it for good measure, but there was no answer. With an aggravated snarl, the blond sat down on his bed and wasted time with counting the cracks in the ceiling.

Maybe proclaiming to stay here had been a little rash and imprudent. But he hadn’t seen a different way other than losing his life. Though a part of him was convinced, that he should have died with his people. Then he wouldn’t feel this way, wouldn’t have to know that he had abandoned them.  
And then, the other, more rational part of him spoke up. It was stupid to have self-loathing thoughts and feel like a coward. Maybe he really was one, yeah, but it wouldn’t have changed anything if he had gone back into to town. Beside that he’d be dead or a prisoner, of course.

 _No difference here_ , a hateful voice in his mind said. 

After a few moments, he sighed. _Well, I bet the treatment in Danzo’s army would’ve been worse._

-  
It must have been another three hours later when something happened again. Naruto had fallen asleep again, exhausted from useless quarreling with himself about his situation. At least his headache wasn’t as bad anymore.

He didn’t think about what had woken him up until he heard a quiet, barely-noticeable noise at his door. His eyes snapped in its direction immediately, but it didn’t open. He frowned. “Hello?”, he said with raised voice, but nobody answered. He heard the noise again, it sounded like scraping over metal.

Then, the lock clicked and the door was pushed open cautiously, as if the person behind it wanted to avoid attracting attention. Naruto sat up, his muscles already tensing up again. “Shikamaru? Kiba?”, he tried again, though he already knew it wasn’t them. They would have entered differently. At least without picking the lock.

A short and thin, vaguely familiar man entered quickly, closing the door behind him quietly as soon as he was inside. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the weird smile that was directed his way. When the guy took a step into the room, the blond remembered where he’d seen him: It was the guy that had been staring at him from across the food hall. _He looks a little like that Sasuke_ , he thought. _Maybe they’re related._

“What do you want?”, the blond asked aggressively, not okay with a stranger breaking into his room. Or cell, whatever.

“Hello, Naruto.”, the guy sad and continued smiling at him in this weird way. _Fakepiss of_?” He didn’t even know what it was that made him this aggressive, but he wanted this man out of here. Now. The man – Sai – didn’t even twitch nor lost his creepy smile. Naruto prepared to manhandle him out the door, when suddenly, he was pushed against the wall, a dagger at his throat. 

He blinked a few times, trying to catch up on the situation. “What-“, he began, but the dagger pressed with more force into his skin, nearly breaking it. Naruto’s eyes shot from the pale hand holding the dagger to the face of his opponent. Staying completely still had never been one of Naruto’s forte – people had always assumed he had ADHD -, so he tried to punch Sai to get him off of him. But Sai was faster, intercepting his fist and slamming his stretched-out arm horizontally against the wall. Naruto grunted at the slight pain when his wrist hit the wall unfortunately.

“Well, these fools seem to believe that you’re an innocent civilian that got caught up in the cross-fire.”, Sai said and the brute strength he used to nail Naruto to the wall was impressive. His face was uncomfortably near, smile still in place. “But we both know why you are here, don’t we? Na-ru-to?” 

A shiver run down the blond’s spine at the eerie way his name was pronounced and he growled, though cautious not to move too much anymore. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, ass-face.”

“Oh, of course not.” The smile got wider. “Maybe I need to… persuade you a little?” Naruto realized with growing horror, that Sai had grabbed another dagger from his belt and was now softly scratching at Naruto’s palm with the tip of it. He tried to jerk his hand away, but the increasing pressure on his throat made him stop instantly. 

“What the fuck are you doing- I didn’t do anything!”, he hissed, his wide eyes focused on the dagger, which was now pointing directly at his palm, slightly poking the skin there. 

“Not yet.”, Sai smiled and sliced the skin on Naruto’s palm with one quick strike open. The blond gasped, more because of shock than pain, and helplessly watched blood flowing down his palm. “But I can’t allow you to roam inside this place, I fear. Presumably, Danzo ordered you to kill someone important in an unwatched moment..” His smile faded.

The tip of the dagger moved to his little finger, to the last link, slowly pressing down until blood began to seep out and Naruto could feel the pressure on his bone- 

“Danzo didn’t order me to do anything! I’m fucking innocent- I, fuck, I didn’t even have anything to do with all this shit until yesterday, I don’t even know what’s going on-“ Naruto knew he was rambling in his panic, closing his eyes in fear of seeing what was about to happen and trying to jerk his hand away without losing a limb- “I’m a civilian, okay, a fucking civilian!”

The pressure was gone in a second. He succeeded in pulling away and presses his bleeding hand to his chest while hastily stumbling away from this madman. His breathing was harsh and he looked at Sai with wide eyes when there was a little more distance between them. The dark-haired man was staring back at him, though his false smile was back again.  
Naruto grit his teeth and tensed, ready to jump him, attack him, throw him out-

“I’m sorry, Naruto, but I was told this is a necessity.”, Sai suddenly said and Naruto noticed his smile looked a little less fake, but still weird. It took a few seconds until the blond realized what had been said.

“What?”, he asked, stupefied and confused about the sudden complete loss of hostility in Sai’s demeanor. The man moved away from the wall – where some drops of Naruto’s blood were running down the white wall slowly, on their way to the dark carpet -, making the blond flinch back in preparation to dodge any attack thrown at him. But he only moved to the door and knocked on it, once, twice.

It opened not a split second later and Naruto saw Shikamaru and Kiba looking back at him. Kiba had a stupid grin on his face, while Shikamaru looked indifferent as ever, maybe less annoyed. “I knew you were saying the truth!”, the brunet said enthusiastically and took a step into the room. “Kakashi wanted to make sure you’re not a spy and bullied Sai into playing this little-“

“Wait, what-? You purposely did this _fucked up shit_ , just to see if I would confess? What the fuck, you, you-“ When Naruto got angry, his swearing increased immeasurable. And he was fucking furious. He clutched his wounded hand to his chest and shot hateful glares at the three soldiers. “I can’t believe-“, he began but stopped because he was, for once, speechless. 

At least Kiba seemed to have a bad conscious about it. He smiles apologetically and tried to take a look at Naruto’s hand. “Sorry, man, really. But it was necessary. Let me look at your hand, I think Sai got a little too much into it-“

Naruto punched him square in his face, with his unharmed hand. Fortunately for Kiba, it was his left one and had less strength behind it than a right-handed hook would have had. The brunet cursed and took forced step back. Naruto waited a tense second if anybody would try to contain him, shoot him- but nothing happened other than Kiba starting to whine.

“Jerks.”, the blond hissed, but let his muscles relaxed when it seemed that they weren’t going to assault him. After a cautious glance at the three men, he shot a look at his hand. There was so much blood on it that he didn’t even see how big the damage really was. He cursed again, but it was with less vigor.

“C’mon, Sakura is already waiting at the infirmary.”, Shikamaru finally said and already turned around to walk down the corridor. Naruto glared at his back, shot Kiba and Sai a look and followed him. _She was in on it too, huh_ , he thought angrily.

A part of him _did_ understand and wasn’t even angry anymore. But the other, more prominent part was still shocked and fucking mad that they played games with him. He heard footsteps behind him and looked over his shoulder to see a sulking Kiba following them. Sai was nowhere in sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you think. :)


	2. Sakura

“He’s insane. Look at what he did to your hand!”, Sakura hissed and quickly wiped the blood away, so she could take a better look at his wound. Naruto nodded vigorously, a grim expression on his face. “But Sai has always been weird that way.”, she went on while raising his hand and inspecting it. “Good aim, though.”, she mumbled thoughtfully. “One millimeter and he would’ve cut one of the tendons..”

“Is that supposed to make it better?”, the blond frowned and winced at the burning sensation when she disinfected the wound. He watched her quietly for a second. “You knew what they were planning, didn’t you?”

Her jade-colored eyes took on a slightly guilty expression and she smiled weakly at him. It was enough of an answer that Naruto sighed miserably and kept quiet while she injected a local anesthetic through a syringe. Trying to act like a grown man, he bit his lip to keep from making a face at the needle. But he had the feeling that Sakura had noticed anyway and was trying not to make fun of him. Maybe she really had a bad conscious.

While she began unwrapping a needle and a thread to sew the gash, his blue eyes turned back to Shikamaru, who was leaning against the wall by the door cross-armed and with closed eyes. Kiba had stayed outside. He had dished out a bad excuse about not coming in, but Shikamaru had told him that Kiba hated the sight of blood or open flesh or anything that needed to have medical care. The blond had snorted, throwing Kiba an incredulous and slightly taunting look. 

“Hey.”, Naruto called and waited until the brunet slowly opened his eyes to look at him. “This was it, then? Can we stop playing prison now?”

For a second, Naruto thought he wouldn’t answer because of his annoyed expression at being disrupted. But then Shikamaru sighed – he seemed to do that a lot – and opened his mouth. “Don’t be silly.”, he said and a blond eyebrow rose. “Kakashi won’t let you roam freely just because Sai couldn’t get anything out of you.”

Naruto had anticipated an answer like this. If he really tried and looked from their perspective, he would probably do the same – though he had always been easily trusting. But one false man was enough to bring an organization this size down. He sighed, trying not to let his temper get the best of him. This Kakashi-guy - the gray-haired one, if he remembered correctly – seemed to have a lot to say down here. 

“Don’t worry.”, Sakura piped in and Naruto turned back to her, though quickly averted his eyes again when he saw she wasn’t finished with his wound yet. She clacked her tongue at his behavior, but smiled slightly. “I had a feeling you were truthful, so I wasn’t surprised that you got through Sai’s little interrogation. You’ll earn Kakashi’s and Sasuke’s trust in no time, I’m sure of it.”

Surprise flitted across his face at her motivating words, but after a few seconds he gave her a brilliant smile. “Thanks.”, he said. It was nice to hear kind words in his situation. Maybe she was right. Even if it would take time, he would prove himself to them. “So, this Sasuke-guy is kinda grumpy, no? Is it true that he’s not the boss?”

Sakura rolled her eyes at him for the grumpy-part and coincidentally or not, the needle pricked a not-numbed part of his hand. “Mmh, I suppose he never wanted to hear anyone call him like that..”, she said absentmindedly, making a knot on her thread and using scissors to cut off the rest. She put her equipment away and took gauze from a drawer beside her. Before she put it on, she looked at his little finger. “It’s not that deep, but I’ll put something on it so it doesn’t get infected.” She had already started rolling gauze around his hand before her explanation was finished and Naruto watched the confident and quick way she did it. 

“Do you have a medical degree?”, he asked curiously. She smiled wistfully and Naruto felt like he had said something wrong. “Um, sorry, I just thought-“

“No, it’s alright.”, she interrupted his apology. “I was in my last year as an intern in Konoha’s hospital when.. well, when it got destroyed.” She looked sad and Naruto felt bad for making her remember. “You know, the first bomb they threw hit the hospital. That’s why we don’t have many doctors. I had the day off, luckily.” 

“Not many? Are you two the only..?”

“Oh, no. Hinata was an intern just like me. We’ve got a few physicians down here but they get only called for larger injuries. We don’t have one of every specialization, though.”

Naruto nodded. His next words were cautiously, glancing at Shikamaru for a second.

“So, you two were citizens of Konoha? Is everyone down here from Konoha?”

“Not everyone, but many of them.”, Sakura answered. She had finished wrapping his wounds and was now removing her bloody gloves, throwing them into the trash can beside her. “We got refugees from surrounding, smaller towns down here, too. Some are from far away.”

Naruto pondered over this new information, cautiously trying to move his right hand. It didn’t hurt, but he was sure the anesthetic was still working. “And Sasuke?”, he asked, seemingly nonchalant. He ignored Shikamaru’s raised eyebrow and looked at the woman beside him.

Sakura smiled again. “He’s from the capital.”, she said. “He and Kakashi, that is.” 

“That’s… far away.”, Naruto mumbled surprised. “How’d they get here?” He jumped from the stretcher he had been sitting on. He noticed Sakura hesitate before answering this time. It puzzled him, because her following answer seemed legit.

“They got here maybe two months before Konoha was destroyed. Suddenly, two dirty, tired and strange guys appeared and talked with the major- and a week later, everyone was suddenly preparing this underground place, just for precaution.” She laughed slightly, but Naruto could hear in her voice that she hated talking about it. “And it was a good decision, because a few weeks later, Danzo attacked us and another tree of the larger cities in this country. Sasuke was.. he did everything he could to save as many people as possible, nearly killing himself in the process.” The blond stayed quiet at her explanation. He knew what she was feeling, knew how much it hurt to lose your normal life, your town. “That’s why everyone follows him.” She smiled. “Most here are devoted to him because they own him their lives.”

-

The next few days were spent on sleeping, eating and being dragged through the base by Shikamaru or Kiba. Sometimes, Sakura joined their meals or sat with them. Naruto got to know some more people, but all in all, he was excluded from most activities down here. Most of the time he was kept in his room - well, they made it look like he was in there voluntarily, but guarded his door nevertheless.  
Naruto was slowly getting insane in this situation. He wasn’t one for sitting on his ass and he hated to have this few social interacting. He was a people person, it wasn’t in his personality to be on his own for long periods of time.

The knowledge that there was none of his people left was the most horrible aspect. That even if they would let him roam freely, he wouldn’t have anyone to go to.

On the third day of his arrival, Sai came to his room again. Naruto nearly punched him, but the dark-haired man easily dodged his fist. He told him that Sakura and Hinata were supposed to do a full medical check on him and he would accompany him to the infirmary.

“Where are Kiba and Shikamaru?”, Naruto asked when they went down the corridor to the central hall, making sure to leave at least one meter distance between them. 

“That is of no concern to you, Naruto.”, Sai answered with his false smile. Presumably, it was supposed to be a friendly answer, but Naruto got angry either way. More so, when Sai asked him how his right hand was healing.  
This guy rubbed him the wrong way. So when he got another two ‘friendly’ questions and weird smiles, Naruto lost his temper and told Sai loudly to _shut the fuck up_ and get lost. 

“I can’t leave you alone.”, the guy just smiled and Naruto, furious, tried to punch him again. With his right, injured hand. Sai didn’t dodge this time, but caught his fist and the impact _hurt_. 

Sakura hit him upside the head when she saw that it had started bleeding again. But, fortunately, the stitching was still intact. He got a new wrapping and after that, the two women measured parameter like his weight, height, blood pressure and a lot other things Naruto didn’t understand. “What’s this checkup for?”, he asked when Hinata was in the middle of inspecting his tonsils and Sakura hushed him angrily. She answered nevertheless: “We do this for everyone periodically. It’s important that we look out for our health, especially when many people live together in small space. One contagious infection and we’re all screwed.”

Naruto laughed at her phrasing and was strangely reminded of his godmother. She had also worked in the medical field and had also not been one to mince her words. “Tsunade told me once-“ He stopped. The girls looked at him, puzzled. “Sorry”, he swallowed, tried to smile and failed bitterly. “Too early.” 

He saw the look Sakura and Hinata were giving him and felt even worse. He didn’t want pity, he didn’t want to think about it. A lump had formed in his throat and kept him from changing topics, so he swallowed again. It didn’t help. His eyes directed to the floor, so he didn’t have to look at Hinata, Sakura and Sai – who was standing by the door; god forbid they leave him alone with two women – so he flinched minimally when Sakura’s hand laid itself on his cheek. It was an intimate gesture and surprised him. He could feel the warmth of her palm.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”, she said quietly and Naruto did everything to keep the moisture out of his eyes. “You can always come to me. I’ll have an open ear.” He glanced at her, touched and hurting even more. A short moment, he thought about telling her – telling about the last minutes he had spent with his family, his stupidity. But the moment was quickly gone and Naruto kept his mouth closed. He sent her a grateful smile.

She didn’t push him anymore after that and slowly, they began to talk about other topics again. Naruto wished that Sai hadn’t seen that. He didn’t want to be seen as weak.

-

The fifth night, he awoke sweat-drenched and his chest hurt because his heart was throbbing so hard against it. His eyes stared at the darkness for a long time, his body trying to calm down again. He didn’t remember his dream and he was glad about this little merciful act of his brain.  
When he didn’t feel like sleeping again after nearly an hour, his thoughts racing through his head, he switched the little table lamp on. But without anything to entertain (distract) himself with, he just lay there until Kiba came to get him for breakfast. Over the course of the day, he asked several people for a book, some magazines or anything he could waste his time with.

-

After two weeks, he saw Sasuke again.

Things down here were running slower than he would have thought – because starting his fifteenth day in this bunker, Kiba eventually told him that Sasuke wanted to question him about the demise of his hometown. At first, Naruto didn’t feel good at the prospect of going through the events again. But it was one step forward, maybe even one step out of his ‘probation’. So he nodded and his thoughts wandered to the upcoming talk more often than not.

Kiba seemed to notice, but he didn’t say anything concerning Naruto’s absentmindedness. He was, opposite to his first impression, a pretty laid-back and cool guy. Naruto would even go as far as call him the closest thing to a friend he had down here, beside Sakura. They had fun sometimes, Naruto even started joking again in his vicinity. Also, he could yell and curse and hit the brunet when he felt like a prisoner again and Kiba would yell and curse and hit him back. And after a few hours, they were talking and laughing again. Naruto was glad that Kiba was one of his guards.

The brunet guided him to his talk with Sasuke after breakfast. Sakura accompanied them, saying she needed to give Sasuke a few medical files anyway. Kiba offered to take them, but the woman strangely ignored him. The two men exchanged a look at that, though Kiba rolled his eyes.

After a few turns, Naruto deduced that they were going to the same office-like room he had been brought to on the first day. Not that he would have remembered the way, but it was roughly the same direction. And really, after what felt like half an hour, they stopped before the unimpressive door again.

Sakura knocked and they entered the room. The dark-haired man they were meeting was standing in front of a large map that had been pinned to the right wall of the room. Naruto hadn’t noticed it the last time he had been in here, but he recognized it as a map of their country. Colored pins were visible on different parts of the map. 

“Sasuke, how are you?”, Sakura greeted with a sweet smile, though didn’t seem to expect an answer because she quickly went on. “I brought the files.” And she waved three brown folders in the air, like she wanted to show evidence for being here. Naruto found it strange but his attention focused on Sasuke, who was turning in their direction. Somehow, the blond wondered if he had gotten paler since two weeks ago. 

Sakura noticed it too, apparently. When Sasuke took the files and thanked her, she put a hand on his arm and frowned. “You’re pale. Are you eating and sleeping enough?” Naruto had the impression that the man was barely suppressing a sigh and an annoyed glare. Outwardly though, he appeased the pink-haired woman with confirmations.

 _He cares for her_ , shot through Naruto’s mind. He couldn’t pin this theory on a specific detail, it was the way they acted with each other. The way Sasuke seemed to refrain from angering and worrying her. He remembered having seen a lot of people in the food hall and the corridors who seemed to be close. He’d even seen whole families. Suddenly, he felt lonely and miserable.

“Naruto?” He flinched slightly, risen from his strange thoughts, and noticed everyone staring at him. “Are you listening or just staring?”, Sakura asked cheekily and he couldn’t help retaliating by sticking out his tongue at her for a second. 

“Sorry, what were you saying?” 

She rolled her eyes playfully. “I said: I’ll leave now. Visit me later?” It was her way of repeating what she’d already said a few days ago: Come, if you want. I’ll hear you out.  
Her small smile was contagious, even though Naruto didn’t feel like it. He nodded, though both knew that he hadn’t decided yet. It depended on his willingness to talk about it. 

After she had left the room, Naruto’s blue eyes focused on Sasuke again. The man was calmly eyeing at him, though when he saw the blond looking back, he turned around and moved to stand before the desk, leaning back against it. “It seems that Sakura took a liking to you.”, he suddenly said. 

Naruto was perplexed for a second. “Well, if you say so.. she’s great, though.”, he smiled slightly. Sasuke nodded distractedly – it seemed like he wasn’t even listening - and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He sighed quietly and it looked like he was mentally preparing for something, but Naruto couldn’t be sure. It was hard to read this man.

“You know why you’re here.”, Sasuke began and his eyes locked with Naruto’s. “I need to know about the attack on your village. Are you up to it?” His tone was neutral, just like his expression. Without being able to look into the man’s eyes from this distance, it wasn’t easy to see through him. But totally opposite to his body language, the content of Sasuke’s words were straight-forward. Naruto was glad he didn’t make this emotional and try asking about his feelings. He was pretty sure he would’ve refused to say a word.

Like this, Naruto hoped it would be manageable. He wondered if Sasuke had deliberately given him these two weeks to come to terms with his loss. _Don’t be silly_ , he thought to himself. _Probably didn’t have the time or something._ “No. But it’s okay.”

The dark-haired man raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment on his contradictorily statement. “You said you were watching from the forest..”, he prompted, clearly indicating for Naruto to start there. So, after a short hesitation, he did. He tried to keep to the facts, leaving out his emotions and details that belonged to him. Sasuke listened without saying a word. Even Kiba didn’t interrupt, standing silently beside the door. He told them everything he saw happening in the streets of his town, but didn’t mention anything about his godparents or his friends.

When he finished with the part where he had run away and met Kiba and Shikamaru, it was silent for a few minutes. The blond could hear the throbbing of his blood in his ears, felt the tense muscles of his face and the urge to leave and hole himself up somewhere.  
His jaw hurt from the force his teeth were clenching.  
He could feel Sasuke’s eyes on him, leaving a prickling sensation on his neck. 

“Does your town, in any way, have contact to Danzo or the capital?”, he finally asked and Naruto shook his head. He wouldn’t know about that. It was a small town and the capital was far away. Sasuke’s lips pressed into a thin line and his brow furrowed slightly. It was the first real facial expression Naruto saw on him today. The man cursed quietly and turned his head to glance angrily at the map on the wall. 

“What is it?”, Naruto asked impatiently, a bad feeling about this reaction. Sasuke looked back at him. He seemed to contemplate telling him and Naruto already opened his mouth to protest, but then he answered.

“If you’re village didn’t give Danzo any reason to be attacked, then it could possibly mean that he found out about us. That he knows we’re in this part of the country.” He appeared agitated and Naruto practically saw wheels turning in his head, thinking and thinking. Already planning their moves. 

“Oh..” He glanced at the floor again, shortly, then focused on Sasuke again. “But.. many towns were destroyed, weren’t they? Did they all anger Danzo in some way?” He had never really thought about it – why did Danzo attack the citizens of a country he wanted to be the king of? It didn’t sound logical to Naruto, though he couldn’t pride himself with much political or strategic understanding.

Sasuke’s mouth twitched downwards. “He.. had his reasons to attack these towns. But I can’t see why he should’ve bothered to send soldiers to yours without a previous dispute. It’s the only one in a large radius, bordering on a forest and mountains.”

Naruto felt dread rise up in his gut. His expression got slightly incredulous, a hint of anger in his eyes. “Is that- does that fucking mean that my hometown was attacked because of a mere _assumption_ – it’s destruction was completely meaningless?” His stomach was churning so bad, he thought his breakfast was coming up. He felt this uncontrollable – _anger_ at this man, _Danzo_. 

The dark-haired man at the desk hesitated. “I’m sorry this happened.” He sounded like it, too.

Naruto gave a short, humorless laugh and felt tears prickling his eyes. “Ha! Yeah, I’m sorry too.” His hand shot up to wipe at the corner of his left eye, his body jerkily turning to face the wall so Sasuke couldn’t see it.

He wasn’t angry at Sasuke, or these people hiding down here. It wasn’t their fault, not really. It would be the easy way, the cowardly way to blame them for all this. “I hate him.”, he hissed, hands clenching to fists while fruitlessly trying to control his anger and his desperation again. “I fucking hate him.”

A hand landed on his right shoulder, trying to comfort him. Naruto looked up to see Kiba standing beside him, not smiling, not saying anything. Just standing there with a grim expression. But the grip of his fingers tightened for a second before slackening again.  
It stayed quiet in the room for a while longer, while everyone of them dwelled on their own thoughts. Naruto’s were full of hate, death and revenge. Then, Sasuke spoke up again.

“I’m going to send two men scouting the area and your hometown. To see if they left something there or.. if anybody survived.”. Naruto’s head shot up, his mouth already opening. Sasuke’s eyes narrowed instantly and he interrupted anything the blond could’ve said. “ _No_ , you will not be one of them.” His voice sounded stern.

“Why not?!”, the blond said loudly, slightly aggressive. “Why the fuck not?!” 

Sasuke frowned at his tone, but Naruto didn’t care who he was yelling at. If there was a chance to leave this bunker and search for anything, any _one_ still there, he wanted to be a part of it. It was _his_ town after all! To his anger, Sasuke didn’t seem to be impressed. “Because you won’t.” Naruto nearly hissed at him. “There’s still a slight possibility that there are soldiers roaming the town and I really can’t imagine you holding your temper. And I’m not certain enough that you won’t scram.”

“Are you still accusing me of being a spy?!”, the bond immediately questioned, waving his mostly-healed right hand. A light red scar had already formed across his palm. “I have a _right_ to go see it with my own eyes!” 

“Yes.”, Sasuke answered and Naruto halted, perplexed. “You have.” The dark-haired closed his eyes for a moment, like his head was aching, then looked at Naruto again. His expression was calm again, but determined. “But not now. You can talk with the scouts, tell them where to search. And you will hear what they have to say when they come back. But you will not be going this first time.”  
His voice was even and reasonable and Naruto could swear he heard an undertone of sympathy. 

Sasuke was right, he knew that. But the irrational, angry part of him didn’t want to succumb to his rational side. “You can’t confine me in this hole forever!” He snarled and took a step in the dark-haired’s direction. In his peripheral vision, he saw Kiba move slightly. Naruto didn’t notice the minimal movement of Sasuke’s hand signing the brunet to stand back. “Just let me out of here.”, he nearly pleaded, his body twitching restlessly. “I won’t tell anyone where you are, I swear.”

It was stupid and he didn’t even know why he had said it. There was no way they would let him leave just like that and Naruto didn’t have somewhere else to go to. This group was his only choice. But he hated the confinement, the stillness, the many intervals without distraction. He missed having people to love and to be loved.

He felt so unbelievingly tired again.

“I know it hurts.”, the man added in a quieter tone. Naruto just stared at him. “But it won’t hurt less if you see what is left of your former life.” He gritted his teeth, but all anger that was left in him involuntarily calmed at Sasuke’s voice. 

And, even though he didn’t want to, Naruto believed him. His vision began to swim again but he didn’t care this time. 

-

Back in his room, he laid down and tried to sleep. Who cared about daily routine and a healthy biorhythm anyway, being closed off from the surface. But his mind was jumbled with thoughts, anger, confusion, hate and even more negative emotions. Sasuke’s face while he said _I know it hurts_. He felt like he would burst any second now, his body not able to stand all of this.

He lay there for close to two hours. After some time, he contemplated looking into one of the books Shikamaru had lent him, but didn’t feel like it. 

After three hours, he got up and opened the door. Kiba was leaning against the opposite wall, his expression still grim and thoughtful. Naruto was glad he didn’t try to cheer him up with some bad jokes. “You need a walk?”, he just asked as if he fully understood what Naruto was going through. _He probably does,_ the blond suddenly remembered. Kiba and everyone else here had also lost their homes. For a moment, he felt selfish. 

“Can I go see Sakura?”, he asked, surprising himself with his own words. Originally, he hadn’t planned to talk to her about it. But he supposed it was hard not having anyone to talk. Before, he had always talked to his godmother about his problems. Keeping it all to himself wasn’t the way he was used to deal with his emotions. He nearly missed Kiba nodding and followed him when he began walking down the corridor.

Naruto wanted to go in the direction of the infirmary without thinking, but Kiba veered off into another corridor, looking exactly like the one his room was in. It didn’t take long until the brunet stopped in front of a door and knocked three times. Sakura emerged a few seconds later. She wasn’t wearing the white coat she always wore in the infirmary, but more comfortable clothes. Her hair was tied into a short ponytail. She didn’t seem surprised to see them, somehow. She smiled at them and stepped aside. 

Kiba seemed to hesitate for just a second, then he stepped back and leaned against the opposite wall, like he had done in front of Naruto’s room. The blond glanced at him, uncertain, and after the brunet shrugged slightly, he entered Sakura’s room. She closed the door.

Her room was just like his own. But there were personal items lying around, some books on a little nightstand, even a few pieces of jewelry. It wasn’t as empty and stale as his room.  
Sakura sat down on her bed while he looked around. It seemed like she had been reading a book before. Naruto hesitated, then sat down beside her, scooting backwards until he was leaning against the wall. 

They didn’t say anything for a while and Sakura picked up her book again at some point. Naruto was trying to find the right words to describe how he was feeling. In the end, he failed but thought that maybe it wasn’t necessary. Sakura wasn’t pushing him, she wasn’t expecting anything from him. Her presence was consoling and calming and slightly easing his tension. When his eyes began to burn, he pulled his knees to his chest and lent his forehead against them. One second later, he felt Sakura’s warm hand wiggling itself into his own larger hand, entwining their fingers.

-

“My godfather told me that he wanted me to take over the dojo. Even though he knew about my plans to leave the town, travel, see the world. He said he was old and wanted to retire. That I should stop dreaming like a kid and act responsible for once.”

Sakura had laid her book down again long ago, her head leaning against his shoulder, comforting him. She was idly playing with his hand, retracing the scar, while listening to his quiet words. 

“We.. had a really bad fight and I yelled really loudly at him. I can’t even remember what I said. But it wasn’t what I would have said if I had known that it would be the last time.” He swallowed. His eyes stayed dry, out of tears, but the burning hurt in his chest hadn’t vanished. “I ran out of the house and hid in the forest. I’ve done it all my life, every time I was upset. I just wish I hadn’t done it this once.”

“I’m glad you did it.”, Sakura said very quietly. “Because if you had stayed there, you would have died or been carried off with everyone else.” She was right, of course. And Naruto knew it wouldn’t do any good blaming himself and regretting his words over and over again. But he _missed_ them, so _goddamn much._

“They knew where to find me, they always did.”, he said, desperately. “If they had just stopped being stubborn and came looking for me like always, they would have- they wouldn’t have-“ He took a deep breath and squinted his eyes closed. “I can’t believe this happened..” he murmured to their hands. Sometimes, in quiet moments he caught himself hoping that it all had been a bad dream. That he would wake up in his bed in their house and be grumpy at his godfather for two days until one of them gave in and apologized.

“I know.. It took me nearly six months to finally stop hoping that it’s just a nightmare. I’ve lost my parents and my mentor.”, the woman answered, the pain from the past surfacing again. “It was a long, rocky way..” They stayed silent for a few minutes. Naruto glanced at her absentminded expression and wondered what she was thinking about. When she noticed his eyes on her, she smiled at him. “I wouldn’t have made it without Sasuke’s and Ino’s help.” 

Naruto didn’t know who Ino was, but he heard her voice when she mentioned Sasuke’s name. He contemplated her for a while, wondering how something good like Sakura’s feelings could still exist. This world seemed so gray, from his point of view. He raised an eyebrow at her words and Sakura seemed to interpret it as disbelief.

“It was pure chance that he found me while I was crying and contemplating to end this. He listened to me. And he was always there when I needed to talk. He even introduced Ino to me.” Sakura smiled at the memory and Naruto silently eyed her.

“Does he know you like him?”, he asked.

At first, Sakura seemed like she wanted to deny it. But then, she sighed and looked at him with a slightly miserable expression. “Is it that obvious?” Naruto let out a short chuckle at her face. “I don’t know.”, she mumbled and the blond left it at that.

For what felt like hours, they stayed on her bed, leaning against the wall beside each other. Periodically, they would talk. A few times, Sakura read something from her book aloud to him. And sometimes, Naruto felt at ease. 

-

Sasuke held his word- the next day, he was called into the office again. When he and Shikamaru arrived, two persons stood there with Sasuke and Kakashi. A woman and a man. They introduced themselves as Ino and Chouji and Naruto recognized at least the slightly chubby man from the food hall. Though he wondered if this was the ‘Ino’ Sakura had been talking about.

Kakashi gave a short explanation: These two were going to scout his town and the surrounding forest. They would be leaving this morning – that’s when Naruto realized slightly befuddled that it was in the middle of the night, up above – and wanted to give Naruto the chance to say something about it. 

“Is there any house, any street you want us to search through?”, Ino asked nicely and Naruto noticed the pitying look with slight annoyance. “We can’t promise that we’ll be able to do it, though.” Naruto nodded, thinking about the house he and his godparents had lived in. 

“Um, there is a dojo at the southern outskirts of the town. And a house beside it, painted orange. Maybe, well, there’s probably no one there but-“ His voice got anxious at the end and he closed his mouth with an audible _clack_ of his teeth to stop rambling. After a breath, he went on. “If you’re searching for survivors, you may check the townhall or the hospital. They’re both in the center of the town, just right to the market place.”

They nodded. When they were sure that Naruto wasn’t going to say more, they turned back to Kakashi and Sasuke. The latter was leaning against the desk again, cross-armed and frowning. He wasn’t happy and Naruto wondered what had him this annoyed. His eyes wandered to Kakashi when the man began talking again.

“You should be back tomorrow evening at the latest. After what Naruto told Sasuke, one way should take about three hours”- he glanced at the blond for confirmation – “so don’t dilly-dally. We’ll send a team to look for you if you’re not back by the day-after-tomorrow.” With this, the two left the office and went to prepare for their mission. Naruto watched their backs until the door closed, wanting nothing more and nothing less than to accompany them. 

When he turned back, he noticed Sasuke watching him. Suddenly angry, his hands formed fists again. “What?”, he asked harshly and glared belligerently. To his disappointment, the dark-haired only stared for a second longer, then slightly shook his head and turned to sit behind his desk. Kakashi glanced at the both of them, apparently amused at something. Naruto frowned, contemplating speaking up again. “What.. what am I supposed to do here?”, he hesitatingly asked after a short while. 

Sasuke raised his head, but it was Kakashi who answered. “I’ll suggest you keep low while you’re still under watch.”, he said with crinkling eyes, though Naruto knew he was serious. “Wait until the two are back, for now.” He kept watching the blond after his words, like he was expecting him to throw a tantrum or attack someone. It made Naruto just angrier and his fist twitched slightly, like it really wanted to hit something. Or someone.

Naruto pressed his lips into a thin line, keeping himself from doing something rash. His temper was screaming at him to do something, make his opinion clear, fight these men for his rights – but he stayed quiet, took a deep breath, turned around and left the room, followed by Shikamaru. _Before_ his patience dissipated. Because of his abrupt leaving, he missed the tight-lipped, calculating look black eyes were giving him.

-

The blond did what Kakashi had suggested. He didn’t have a chance, really. While someone was constantly watching him, he wasn’t able to roam around freely or go to the surface. So he was either staying in his room or spending time with the only ‘friends’ he had down here. But Sakura and Kiba had their own responsibilities to fulfill. Shikamaru was okay, too, but Naruto noticed quite early that he wasn’t one to hold a conversation with. One time, the brunet had tried to play a game named shogi with Naruto but he had been too impatient and the game had been boring.

The blond knew that there was some kind of community room somewhere around the food hall, he’d heard people talk about it. When he had asked Kiba about it, he had sighed and explained that he wasn’t allowed to go there yet. 

Naruto had thrown one of his newly borrowed books at him, projecting his anger at the situation at the poor guy instead. Kiba wasn’t unforgiving, but he had been miffed for a few hours. 

For a while, he killed time by thinking about what else could be hiding inside this bunker. Maybe some kind of jail? And a secret lab for experiments on captured enemies? Naruto was pretty sure there had to be a huge storage full of weapons and dangerous war-stuff. He nearly laughed when thinking about the crazy idea of Sasuke having his personal harem somewhere and Kakashi his own private library of porn. Maybe there was a swimming pool down here. 

He wished he was able to explore a little. It would give him something to do. And maybe, he would learn to be comfortable down here when he got to know the place. 

A knock interrupted him in his musings, though before he could even sit up from his bed, the door already opened. Naruto glared at the intruder and it took him a few surprised seconds to realize it was Sasuke. 

“Get up.”, the man said and Naruto stared at him, not having expected him to visit him _ever_. He was the prisoner and Sasuke some kind of leading figure, so.  
When the blond didn’t move immediately, the dark-haired raised an elegant eyebrow and something like impatience flickered through his eyes. Naruto scented his chance at some diversion in his misery and quickly got up from his bed, not wanting Sasuke to change his mind. 

“What is it?”, he asked, but the other just mumbled a low “Come on” and turned around to leave the room. Naruto followed, noticing a crucial detail when stepping into the corridor. “Where’s Shikamaru?” He looked around but there was no one beside them. 

Sasuke glanced at him over his shoulder. Then he shrugged. “I sent him away. I’ll take care of you not doing something stupid.” Naruto frowned and told him “Jerk.”, but Sasuke only walked on, guiding the blond through the central hall into the left corridor beside the food hall. 

Naruto looked around curiously, though skeptically, because he hadn’t been here until now. He didn’t know this guy, couldn’t read him like he wanted. So who said he wasn’t going to be trapped in some kind of interrogation/torture-chamber or wasn’t getting experimented on in some lab? A scrutinizing glace at Sasuke’s back told him nothing and the answer to his question where they were going was a useless “You’ll see.” 

While following a step behind, the blond used the chance to watch his companion. Sasuke’s shoulders were tense and his back unnaturally straight. The whole way he was holding himself, walking, seemed foreign to Naruto but he couldn’t say why. He noticed the wiry frame and automatically wondered if he could overpower Sasuke as easy as it seemed. Then, when the man’s pale arm tensed and his hand formed a fist, Naruto saw the strength and firmness his muscles seemed to have.

“Stop staring, moron.”, the man said and frowned at him over his shoulder. Naruto raised his head, not one to be embarrassed at being caught, and eyed the way Sasuke’s jaw clenched. He didn’t say anything and the man’s eyes turned forwards again after holding his blue ones for a tense second.

Naruto let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding.

They arrived at a strange part of the underground-city. The room they entered was small and dark and seemed to be some kind of changing room. On the left wall was a shelf with a lot of cubicles, apparently to store one’s clothes. Naruto noticed two doors and a small section behind a screen, which was, apparently, supposed to give some sense of privacy to whoever wanted it. 

Curiosity made Naruto open one of the doors. Thin mats laid on the floor inside, in the center of the room. It looked a little like the training room in their dojo at home. His mixed feelings about his godfather– hurt, anger, love, longing – came crushing onto him again instantly. He swallowed, but couldn’t turn away. His eyes were fixated on the mats, remembering one scene after another where he and his godfather had stood on some similar to these.

Wouldn’t someone as good in karate as his godfather beat some lame soldiers easily? He could imagine colorful how they had to get reinforcement to bring him down. 

A presence a step behind him made him jerk out of his thoughts. “You mentioned living beside a dojo?”, Sasuke said quietly and glanced at him. Naruto sighed, then nodded.

“It belonged to my godfather.”, he explained. “It was pretty popular, there were people all the time. But we would practice every Tuesday evening, just the two of us.”, he added without thinking who he was speaking to. His throat closed up after that and he pressed his lips into a thin line to keep from crying again. Not in front of Sasuke. Not in front of anyone. He was so sick of being sad.

Sasuke didn’t comment on Naruto’s sudden information about his old life. They stood there, looking into the room, for another few seconds until the dark-haired turned to the other door, motioning the blond to follow him. Naruto exhaled a long breath and moved as soon as he didn’t feel like crying anymore. His companion had already entered the second room and was waiting beside a large punching bag. The blond frowned confusedly and hesitated, but Sasuke waited patiently, looking at him.

Naruto noticed other training utensils in this room. Barbells, treadmills and even wooden training-swords. He looked around while coming to stand beside Sasuke. The man waited another second, then nodded at the punching bag and merely said “Hit it.”

Still hesitating, Naruto looked at the bag, then glanced at Sasuke again. He was looking expectantly at him and the blond thought _whatever_ and pulled back his right fist. His halfhearted punch made the punching bag barely move and he heard the raven scoff beside him. Throwing him an incredulous and simultaneously withering glance, Naruto punched it with more force. And another time, even harder. It began swaying a little, its lazy movements aggravating Naruto into hitting harder, harder, _harder_. He began using both his fists without noticing and let out a frustrated yell when the punching bag’s swaying _still_ wouldn’t become noteworthy greater. 

It remembered him of the training with his godfather and the other guys training in their dojo. How much fun they had, how much he missed sparring with them. How many of them died nearly three weeks ago.

At some point, his mind began projecting images of the soldiers in his thoughts, fueling his rage and anger and his fists hit the bag with a loud “Fuck!”. His thoughts wandered to the things the soldiers had done to his people, to his town. He tried imagining what Danzo looked like, how he was pounding the bastard into a bloody pulp.

His mind was completely absorbed in pounding all his anger, all the desperation and the sadness into the punching back, trying to let it all out. _How the hell could they destroy people’s lives this easily?_ He kicked at the punching back, satisfied when it creaked loudly. _What gave them the right? What gave them the fucking right?_

He didn’t notice the man beside him sigh, lean against the wall and watch him slightly satisfied.

That night, Naruto slept without nightmares for the first time since he had arrived in Konoha.

-

On the morning of the second day that Ino and Chouji had left, a young man came to inform Kiba and Naruto that they were expected in the office. The brunet raised an eyebrow at the messenger boy and said “They’re back early.” to Naruto. 

When they arrived at their destination, Ino and Chouji were standing in front of Sasuke, Kakashi and.. a brunet with three kids surrounding him.

“Iruka?” It was out of Naruto’s mouth before the door had closed behind them. The man turned his head with wide, haunted eyes and stared at him for nearly ten seconds before a raspy “Naruto?” escaped him. There was a moment of complete silence while they stared at each other and everyone else stared at Naruto, including the three kids. Then, the blond moved and threw his arms around his former grade school teacher. Iruka didn’t hesitate in embracing the younger man with equal vigor. “You survived.” Naruto mumbled croaky, stepping back and looking for any wounds, then looking at the kids. “How? I thought everyone is- I thought I was the only one-“ 

Tears were rising up into his eyes again and he swallowed reflexively to keep them at bay. Though he could see Iruka’s eyes shimmering, too. “I can’t believe you’re here.”, Iruka said with so much joy beside the bone-deep sadness in his eyes that Naruto’s hand on his teacher’s arm gripped harder. “I was in the forest with the kids, searching for foxes..”

Naruto couldn’t help the unbelieving, short laugh that escaped him, followed by “Can’t believe you’re still doing that every year.” And he saw the corner of Iruka’s mouth twitch before his expression became tired again. Naruto hadn’t seen his old teacher for a few months before their town was attacked, but he didn’t remember there to be so much creases on his face. And maybe he was imagining it but the four of them were pale and unnaturally thin.

“We found them a few miles from the town in the forest.”, Chouji explained and everyone turned to him. “They were hiding in the trees quite cleverly, but I saw one of the kids’ feet dangling down a branch.” He smiled slightly and one of the kids began pouting. Naruto eyed them again, but he couldn’t remember ever meeting them. 

Iruka noticed the blond’s puzzling expression. “These are Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi.”, he explained, motioning at the two boys and the only girl.

“But what we were talking about before blondie came rushing in-“, Ino spoke up and turned to Sasuke. “There are at least fifty man remaining there, mostly keeping to the center of the town-“

“The soldiers are still there?!”, Naruto interjected. Kakashi nodded solemnly and motioned Ino to move on. The blonde nodded.

“-but a few of them guard the outer line just before the forest. The forest lays on a hill, so it’s easy to survey the town from there. We saw the soldiers patrolling, but mostly half-hearted. They seem to feel at ease. We didn’t see any citizens.” At her last words, she glanced at Naruto apologetically. “We weren’t able to enter the town at all.”

The blond nodded, his jaw clenching again. His eyes wandered to Sasuke. The man was quiet, apparently contemplating the situation they were in. When he noticed Naruto’s gaze he looked up and stared back for a couple of seconds, then turned to Iruka and his kids. “Did you see anything? Do you know if someone else is still hiding?” Naruto instantly jerked back to look at his former teacher. 

Iruka shrugged slightly. “We neared the forest’s border only once and we didn’t see anything then-“

“But! We saw that woman, don’t you remember?”, the boy who had been pouting at Chouji’s words piped in, grabbing at Iruka’s jacket impatiently. Naruto’s eyes widened hopefully and his hands formed fists. But the brunet sighed and shushed the kid. 

“There was no one, Konohamaru. It was just the moonlight playing tricks on your eyes.” He looked back up and looked at Naruto with a crestfallen expression while speaking to everyone. “I’m sorry. He lost his mother and- well. We didn’t see anyone.”

“Are you sure?”, Kakashi asked, his one visible eye fixated on Iruka. The brunet glanced at him and nodded unhappily.

They were silent again, for a few minutes. Naruto tried to hide his disappointment. His hopes had been crushed down in an instant and he was trying to control the hurt. He saw Sasuke glancing at him a few times, felt Kiba stepping beside him for comfort. 

“Have Sakura and Hinata look them over, then get them something to eat.”, Sasuke finally said to Kiba. The brunet nodded and he guided the four newcomers out of the room. Iruka looked back at Naruto like he wanted to stay and talk with him and the blond felt weird letting them leave his sight. But he saw that they were tired and starved and knew he could talk to his former teacher later on. When the door closed behind them, he turned back to the other four people in the room. 

“Why are the soldiers lingering, what does that mean?”, he asked them, his eyes flickering between them. None of them answered directly, apparently thinking about the same question. 

“We’ll see.”, Kakashi finally said, his expression more serious than Naruto had ever seen it. “For now, we have to observe.” He told Ino and Chouji to go eat something and rest, too. They talked for a few minutes, but Naruto didn’t listen. His thoughts were still with Iruka and the kids. When the two had left the room, Sasuke raised his head to look at Naruto again. 

“Would you be able to create a map of your town? With Iruka’s help, if needed?” Naruto thought about it, his knowledge of the town he had grown up in, and answered positively. Sasuke nodded, but didn’t seem to want him to do it right now. 

“Go follow your friend, Naruto. I imagine you have a lot to talk about.”, Kakashi finally said. The blond hesitated. He glanced at Sasuke. But the dark-haired was looking at the map of the country again, apparently deep in thought. Naruto felt the need to stay here, somehow, but he followed Kakashi’s words and turned around to leave the room.

Only when no one followed his every step did he notice that he had no guard anymore. He looked back at the others frowning, expecting them to notice, too, and organizing a new chaperone. But Kakashi just shrugged and Ino smiled at him. So Naruto left the room and tried to find his way to the infirmary without getting lost.

-

“I’m happy for you.”, Sakura whispered to him and laid a hand on his arm for a short moment. Her smile was honest. Then, she turned back to Iruka to attend to a few minor scratches he got while climbing trees. Meanwhile, Hinata was putting patches on the scraped knees of Udon.

Naruto sat down on the floor right where he was standing. He watched Iruka, still feeling slightly unrealistic. “You hid for so long..” he mumbled. “What did you eat? Did you have water on you?” 

Iruka winced slightly while Sakura disinfected his wounds, but looked at Naruto sitting on the ground. “We had some bottles of water with us and some sandwiches.”, he said but his voice told Naruto how horrible it must have been. “Moegi knew which berries would be edible from her father..”

Naruto listened silently. He was happy they had survived. That he wasn’t alone anymore. But.. he caught himself hoping for more. His mind was full of thoughts, all asking, wishing, hoping that _if they had survived, maybe others could have too-_  
He tried to stop himself, but it didn’t really work.

While they were eating, he explained to Iruka how he had gotten here. But shortly after they had finished their food, the four newcomers were guided to their new rooms – Iruka had a single room, the kids were put together - and wanted to rest. Naruto could only imagine how little sleep they had gotten over the last weeks.

Some other guy had been found to stand guard in front of their doors, though Naruto supposed it was more of a formality than anything else. He couldn’t imagine anyone suspecting three kids and their kind-hearted teacher.  
Kiba was at his side again and this time, they both sat together in Sakura’s room and the three talked about what happened. Naruto felt better than before.

But he didn’t tell his two friends about the quiet hope still growing somewhere in him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There, the second one. It has some more changes in it than the first one.  
> I finished this with a broken pinky finger, don't mind any mistakes please. ;/
> 
> Tell me if you liked it. :)


End file.
